GLAAD to honor Bill Clinton

LOS ANGELES, April 3 (UPI) -- The gay advocacy group GLAAD said Wednesday it will present former U.S. President Bill Clinton with its first Advocate for Change Award.

Clinton will be presented the award at the 24th annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles April 20.

The group said in a release on its website that Clinton will be honored for advocating marriage equality in New York in 2011 and for joining the Coalition to Protect North Carolina Families in 2012 to work against North Carolina's proposed Amendment One to ban marriage and civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.

It also lauded him for his recent call for the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act in an op-ed for The Washington Post.

GLAAD noted Clinton was the first president to appoint openly gay and lesbian people to all levels of government and pushed efforts to fight the HIV/AIDs epidemic.

"President Clinton's support of the LGBT community and recognition that DOMA, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, is unconstitutional and should be struck down shows that the political landscape continues to change in favor of LGBT equality," said GLAAD's Wilson Cruz. "Leaders and allies like President Clinton are critical to moving our march for equality forward.

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